Compulsory Education
Page 68
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EDUCATION and training for work in road transport have been offered from several quarters for, a number of years, but the voluntary response has never been satisfactory. The reason may be, as Mr. .G W. Quick Smith suggested in his paper to the Insti_ute of Transport in Edinburgh, that, at any rate in road haulage, the operators and their staff have found little difficulty in picking up the threads as they go along. They may realize that a systematic course of study will help them to some extent. but not sufficient to justify giving up, say, a couple of evenings a week.
Although it seems a pity that the facilities available are not being fully used, one reason may. be that the successful operation of a small, or even a fair-sized, haulage business depends almost entirety on practice, and very little on theory. As a result, it attracts the man who has a shrewd grasp of affairs and an intelligent interest in what goes on around him, but has little liking and less talent for booklearning. The type has always been plentiful in the industry; perhaps because the supply also is plentiful, whereas outside road haulage the field in which it can find adequate' scope is diminishing, with the growth of the big corporations and the increasing complexity of science.
In Mr. Quick Smith's opinion, the small man with much enterprise but not much learning is on the way to extinction. "The empirical approach suitable to an industrY's infancy," says Mr. Quick Smith, "may not be so appropriate at the adult stage when modern methods should be producing better results." The haulier who reads this lofty diagnosis may feel he is being compared to the caterpillar, no good to man or vegetable until it blossomed into the butterfly that spread its wings in Marylebone Road.
In fact, the statement may be true as a generalization, but it does not necessarily apply to the industry with which Mr. Quick Smith is concerned. His desire to prove that it 'does arises from the theme of his paper. He was attempting to set out the advantages—and, in a more muted strain, the disadvantages--of large-scale operation in road haulage. Once his principle-is accepted, that the really large haulage undertaking gives trade and industry something better than they had before, it follows that one must approve of transport education, and frown upon the old a empirical " approach.
Envisaging a Monopoly Mr. Quick Smith is presumably saying that the managerial revolution has conic to road haulage, and that B.R.S. represent its spearhead: With their present ffeet of 16,000 vehicles, they are by far the largest road haulage undertaking in the world. On the analogy that one cannot have too much of a good thing, Mr. Quick Smith sees no reason why there should be any limit to the size. With the utmost composure, he is able to envisage the undertaking becoming almost a monopoly, in which case, he insinuates, " it may well be that public ownership can best provide the checks and safeguards necessary for the protection of the public."
One must admit that training schemes, which can be helpful to hauliers whatever the size of their business, are essential when the undertaking is as large as B.R.S. Mr. Quick Smith's pride in what has been done by B.R.S. in the way of education should therefore be tempered by the realization that he is making a virtue of necessity. That big business needs big brains is not an argument in its favour. Without seeing the implications, Mr. Quick Smith points to one of the difficulties B.R.S. are likely to encounter if they grow much bigger. A large undertaking, he says, is more likely to attract capable men from other fields .who can bend their talents to the betterment of the industry. He continues:. "Cross-fertilization of this kind is essential if the industry is to avoid the inbreeding dangers that are inevitably associated with a closed shop."
ft is doubtful whether the captains of industry would be willing to move over into road haulage, or into B.R.S. They are scarce enough as it is. The Government since the war have been hard put to it to find men of sufficient. calibre to lead the nationalized industries, and have perhaps been fortunate in having a reserve of retired generals. The situation is .growing worse rather than better. In a world that is gradually becoming better educated, Britain, with its great congestion and shrinking resources, must not only train more men for science and industry but must put them to the best use when they are trained.
Attracting Capable Men
Mr. Quick Smith has merely proved, as was already known, that the large undertaking has its place in road haulage as well as the small. He has not justified the existence of an undertaking as large as B.R.S. Still less has he made a case for increasing their size. Even if he could attract capable men at top level—which might in any case be difficult at salaries on the nationalized scale— they would be unlikely to remain long. They would soon turn to other industries, possibly as transport managers.
At other levels in the road haulage industry there is an unfailing supply of candidates, needing no inducement to come in, but kept waiting at the door of the "closed shop" to which Mr. Quick Smith refers. Because it is possible to run a small road haulage bus'iness successfully, even with one vehicle, the industry provides one of the diminishing opportunities for the man whose character I have already *sketched, enterprising, with no claim to great intellect, but at least deserving the chance to develop such talents as he has in a suitable environment
The impenetrability of the licensing system is an indirect proof of the keeness of the outsider to get. in. If he can find an entrance, he is often willing to work harder, and for less reward, with his own vehicle, than he would when driving the vehicle for somebody else. Should Mr. Quick Smith ultimately get his monopoly, the littleman would have no further scope. It remains to be proved whether he should not be encouraged to enter road haulage rather than the better-trained man who is needed elsewhere.
Mr. Quick Smith has one incontrovertible point. If hauliers are to compete on equal terms, he says, they must all observe the law. There is a rebuke hidden in the remark that may well be merited, particularly by some of the newcomers. The little man with no capital is tempted to forget, or even never to learn, about such things as vehicle fitness, statutory hours of work, and speed limits.
It would not be.a bad thing if every newcomer had to
take an examination in the law and in elementary maintenance. Education at this level would promote road safety and good conduct. It might stimulate an interest in further education. The more that hauliers can be persuaded to learn about their business, the better; but it must not be assumed, as Mr. Quick Smith tends to assume, that the efficiency of the industry can be measured by the amount of training .required for a position in it.